Gravesend West railway station

Gravesend West
Station remains in 1969.
Location
Place	Gravesend
Area	Borough of Gravesham
Grid reference	TQ643743
Operations
Pre-grouping	London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
10 May 1886	Opened as "Gravesend"
1899	Renamed "Gravesend West Street"
26 September 1949	Renamed "Gravesend West"
3 August 1953	Closed to passengers
25 March 1968	Closed completely
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Gravesend West was a railway station on the Gravesend West Line which served Gravesend in Kent. It opened in 1886 and was, for some time, a regular destination for boat trains from London which linked with steamers on the station's pier to ferry passengers to a variety of coastal towns and resorts. The station closed in 1953 to passengers and later to freight in 1968. The only reminder of Gravesend West which remains today is its pier, the rest having been taken over by redevelopment in the area.

Opened in 1886 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR), the station provided the third rail route to Gravesend after the South Eastern Railway's North Kent Line which had reached the town in 1849 and the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway's ferry service from its Tilbury station on the opposite bank of the Thames which had begun in 1854. The official opening of the station to public traffic on Monday 10 May 1886 was marked by the protest of local landowner Lord Darnley who barricaded Stuart Road in protest against the LCDR's right to use his roads in Gravesend. The barriers were removed half-an-hour before the official opening, and the dispute was later resolved by arbitration.

The station had two facing platforms which formed a 'V' shape, with the two left-hand tracks alongside the down platform (No. 1) extending towards the pier. The main station buildings were located at the base of the 'V' and were solidly-built in a slightly Gothic style. It was constructed of yellow under a roof of Welsh slate, with red brick rubbers used for the quoins, arches and bench courses. The buildings extended over the No. 2 up platform which was sheltered by a glazed roof light. An adequately-sized goods yard could be found on the down side, with the goods shed situated on the up side. A steel bridge led out from the station over West Street towards the spartan pier on the muddy banks of the Thames.